The Christian's Responsibility to Government, Part 1

Romans 13:1

     Let's open our Bibles to Romans chapter 13.  And I feel a little bit like a man who has just eaten a huge meal and is standing in front of a smorgasbord.  There's so much here, and I don't really know how much I'm going to be able to handle.  After this morning's time in the Word, this seems almost more than we can receive. 

     And I'm not in a hurry with this passage because I think it is a very important one, and makes some very significant demands on our thought, and so I don't want to hurry.  I want to be careful to properly ascertain and share with you its significance.

     Nor do I want to sermonize and find cute little homilies and ways to attract your attention.  I basically want you to understand the passage.  And I'll do the best I can tonight to lay the groundwork that'll make this passage open up to you. 

     But to begin with, we need to read the first seven verses so we know what it is we're referring to.  Romans, chapter 13, beginning at verse 1. 

     "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.  For there is no power but from God; the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the institute of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.  Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?  Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. 

     For he is the minister of God to thee for good.  But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword for nothing.  For he is the minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

     Wherefore ye must needs be subject.  Not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake.  For, for this cause pay ye taxes also.  For they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

     Render therefore to all their dues - taxes to whom taxes are due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor."

     Now in those seven verses we have outlined for us in brief and pointed terms the Christian's responsibility to government.  This is the most clear, the most direct, the most straightforward and precise passage in all of the New Testament on this subject.  And as a result of that, it is an extremely important one for us to understand. 

     The issue of the Christian's relationship to government is a very important issue.  It has been through all of the church's history.  Christian's have always had to face this issue, and even to struggle with it.  Where the church has found itself in all kinds of places, in all kinds of governments, under all kinds of rulers, with all kinds of perspectives and forms of leading and ruling.  And so Christians have always had to deal with this matter of how do you respond to your government? 

     Traditionally and historically in our own country we have had less trouble with this than many others.  Say for example, our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in China or behind the Iron Curtain, or in Russia.  Because we have lived in a somewhat Christian influenced society, we've had the best of situations.  And the most benevolent of governments.  But it hasn't always been that way for Christians as it wasn't for those in the New Testament times when this was written.  Even for the believers in Rome who received this very letter.

     But Christians, even though they have struggled to answer the question of what is their relationship to government, have not always answered it properly. 

     And throughout the history of the church, there have been revolutions in the name of Christianity where people decided that the Christian thing to do was to revolt militarily against the government that's in power, and demand their rights.  There have even been wars in the name of Christianity. 

     And so Christians have struggled with this, and sometimes they have rightly understood what their role was, and sometimes they have overturned their God-given role and become revolutionary.  There has been violation of law in the name of Christianity.  I don't know if you realize this, but there have been, even in our own country, certain law violations, civil disobedience, subversive attempts to overthrow the powers that be on a local level, a state level, or a national level that in some cases were led by people who claimed to be Christians.  All of this in the name of Christ.  

     Some Christians have decided that since they have received bad treatment from certain governments, it is justifiable for them to war against those governments.  And in case you think this is far-a-field, may I remind you that for some people evangelical Christianity was their justification for the American Revolution. There are those people who feel that America was borne out of a revolution which was justified, and we had every right to load up our guns and kill Englishmen for the sake of our religious freedom.

     There are some Christians even today whom I know personally who refuse to pay their taxes, because they feel they violate their freedoms. 

     The truth of the matter is, and you need to think about this - the truth of the matter is that our own nation was borne out of a violation of this biblical text.  Now that may throw you for a loss, but that's the fact.  Our nation was borne out of a violation of this text.  In the name of Christian freedom. 

     That does not mean that God doesn't overrule such violations and bring about good, which He did in this case, but that doesn't justify the means.  And still today we struggle with how we should identify with our government because even though America had sort of a Christian orientation, we are now living in I suppose what we could call post-Christian America. 

     And though we are fortunate to have a President who affirms the Christian faith, and who holds to Christian standards of ethics and morality, our government no longer upholds the Bible as a source of truth, Biblical morality as a source of what is right, and we are fast seeing all of that kind of thing eroding from our country.  And so some people believe that we, as Christians then, because America seems to be losing its Christian orientation, have a right to protest, have a right to defy the law, to break the law. 

     Many Christian leaders are calling for other Christians to leave their present operation, their present Ministry, and become a part of a new political Christian lobby to use high pressure, social actions, so forth.  Some are calling for anger, and protests, and a moderate kind of revolution against our government. 

     They say the government is taking churches' freedoms away.  It is encroaching on religion.  And in an effort to save the freedom of the church, a myriad of organizations are arising in our country calling for action against the government.  I am amazed at how many evangelical Christians who 15 years ago wouldn't have been caught dead in such activity, are now very aggressively pursuing this political lobbying approach. 

     And I'm also equally amazed at the cobelligerents that wind up coming together on issues of civil authority and civil rights that would never find any common ground on the issue of truth.  For example, many evangelicals are now aligned with Sun Myung Moon and the "Moonies" because they have a common cause for religious freedom. 

     So the coming together of these kinds of people in very strange ways as cobelligerents demonstrates this preoccupation with political ends, where theology and doctrine of Biblical truth are set aside for the sake of freedom. 

     I received recently an invitation to the inauguration of the President, and it was nice.  I'm glad they invited me, and also to the ball, which goes along with it.  I'm not going, by the way.  To either.  But because of that, I received a letter the other day which was a follow-up to that letter from a new group.  I can't even remember the name, but it's something to do with Christian action in Washington, inviting me to come to a very special banquet and stand together with all these people to hold Christian freedoms in America.  And I went down the list of people involved in that, and I wrote back and said I couldn't come, and I couldn't associate because I wouldn't be able to identify myself with those people. 

     It amazes me that you have a list of true believers, charlatans, frauds, false prophets - all jumbled together for the sake of "religious freedom" to do the political lobbying that people think is going to preserve the kingdom of God in America.

     One of the worst fallouts of this new preoccupation with the political issues, this new politicizing of the church, is that ultimately the Ministry of the church is prostituted.  And people are selling themselves for something short of that to which the church is called.  The church cannot afford to become just a flag-waving, lobbying, protesting voice for government change.  That's not our calling.  And I'm appalled to note that many Pastors have turned from an emphasis on the Gospel to an emphasis on politics. From an emphasis on teaching the Bible to an emphasis on coalitions to support particular legislation.  And all of this is based upon some ridiculous premise that Christianity's growth and power and impact is somehow related to the government policy in America. 

     C.F. Lewis once reminded Christians that human beings live forever, while the state is only temporal, and thus is reserved to comparative insignificance.  And to spend your time altering the state when you could be spending your time giving people eternal salvation is a bad bargain.

     To abandon the message which gives to that eternal soul life with God in favor of temporal change prostitutes and wastes the light.  I mean it would be like a great heart surgeon with a skill to save many, abandoning his life-saving practice to become a makeup artist.  To fool around with the outside.  And ignore the skill which could save men's lives. 

     Seems to me that the church needs to use all of its power and all of its resources, and all of its energy and forces to convert men and women to Jesus Christ.  And that's what God has called us to do.  The Scripture speaks not at all about Christians engaging in politics.  It has nothing to say about it.  Other than the fact that we're to be model citizens, it says nothing. 

     It speaks not at all about Christians engaging in civil change.  That is not our priority.  It doesn't mean we're not to be involved as citizens where we can be.  It's a question of priority. 

     In the Old Testament, for example, Israel was a priestly nation.  And by God's design, Israel was to bring men to God.  And in that nation Israel there were priests whose primary function was to do just that.  There were others who could take care of the menial things, and the problems, the social issues.  But the heart of the matter was the priesthood, the core of life which gave its identity to the whole nation, and they could not abandon the role of bringing men and women to God.  That was God's design. 

     The church is the same.  I believe we are a kingdom of priests, not a kingdom of politicians.  That our design in the world is to bring men to God.  You say, don't you care about change?  Of course I care about change, but I also know that changes from inside, not outside.  Right? 

     We must administrate the things of God.  We must administrate the kingdom of God.  So as we approach this whole issue of the Christian's role in government, I want you to understand from the very beginning that what we're saying has nothing to do with politicizing the church.  It has nothing to do with lobbying.  Has nothing to do with getting involved in those things which are good, but not our divine calling and priority.  There is no biblical mandate for us to spend time, money, and energy in politicking or engaging in the matters of civil government. 

</